Unlike a lot of people, I don't think Donald Rumsfeld should resign over the revelations of torture by American troops. If some of the reports are true as to when he learned of the problems — or when he should have, based on reports that he avoided reading — a case can perhaps be made that he should be fired for negligence. And of course, another case can be made that he and Wolfowitz should be fired over incompetence relating to the Iraqi war…but how often do people at that level ever get fired for incompetence or negligence or anything other than crossing their superiors?
This is not just a Republican thing or a Bush thing. If you are in a high appointed office and you develop (or even dare voice) the view that your leader is leading in the wrong direction, you're usually sacked within the hour. But I think you could be really, really inept or possibly even criminal and not lose your job.
Leaders like to blame unnamed subordinates but don't like to actually name or fire them. Back during the Watergate mess, Nixon seemed to agree that the break-in was a criminal act and that it was planned within the White House. But he didn't actually get rid of (or even seem to get mad at) Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell or any of those guys until events forced him to respectfully and reluctantly request their resignations. Maybe he was afraid of them turning against him if fired but he sure convinced a lot of folks of his complicity and/or guilt by not punishing anyone. A lot of things have happened to George W. Bush that if they happened to me would sure be cause for someone to be dismissed…like who told him to put that stuff about Yellow Cake Uranium into the State of the Union address? Apparently no one because no one got fired. Clinton kept a number of guys around him who gave him very bad advice or very faulty data, too.
I'm on the fence on a lot of Iraq-related issues. I can still imagine this whole thing turning into something we'll be proud of or something we'll wish had never been suggested. But I can't imagine not thinking there have been some really major screw-ups that caused more damage and loss of life than was necessary. And it's getting harder to imagine the folks responsible for those screw-ups being fired over them…or to even lose out on a raise and promotion.